Community venture brings history to life (From Echo)

Community venture brings history to life

1:10pm Monday 29th March 2010

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FOUR years in the making and combining the talents of local artists, historians and pupils, an illustrated history book has been a true community endeavour.

The textbook, which is aimed at Castle Point schoolchildren, guides the reader through the borough’s history seen against the backdrop of national and international events.

Entitled Exploring Our Past in and around Castle Point, it was created by the Rev Angela Cotton, from Hadleigh Methodist Church, a part-time artist and historian.

Angela, 70, said her aim was to create a history text to inspire children.

She said: “The kind of thing you find in adult local history books is totally uninteresting to children. They don’t want to know about the economic factors that shaped the area’s society.

“I’m hoping this book will give them the skeleton of British history, while at the same time encouraging them to explore their immediate surroundings.”

The book is full of interesting anecdotes about the area.

For example, the book’s section on the Tudors notes that Henry VIII gave Hadleigh Castle to several of his wives, while the chapter on Medieval Britain adds that King Canute may have tried to hold back the waves on Westcliff beach.

The book is certainly not just Angela’s baby, it has a long and sometimes tortuous history of its own and draws on a diverse pool of local contributors.

It was conceived four years ago when Angela secured £50,000 of National Lottery funding to extend the work of her Art Ministry.

Based in Hadleigh Methodist Church, the charity runs art therapy courses for local groups, including disabled people, those with learning difficulties and children with special needs.

Angela’s initial idea was to create a history textbook side by side with local schoolchildren, but she soon discovered that was a logistical impossibility.

She said: “It turned into such a large project it soon became apparent local schools, with all their curricular commitments, didn’t have the time.”

“I took more and more of the work upon myself. It was a big effort to take all this historical research and distil it down to something that might interest children.”

The area’s schools have still had an input, as several of the chapters feature pages contributed by local secondaries on topics of their choice.

For example, the section on the reformation features an entry from children from the Deanes School, in Thundersley.

They explored nearby St James the Less Church, looking at how the inside of the building was stripped of its icons by pious Protestants.

Deanes’ history teacher Ian Haggard, who was involved with the project from the start, is convinced the book will prove to be an important tool for the borough’s schools.

He said: “It’s very important because it gives children a sense of place, and it gives them an understanding of the immediate world around them.

“Places like Hadleigh have developed a lot in the past 50 years, and the history is often hidden beneath roads and concrete, but it’s there, and it’s important children explore it.”

Another source of contributions were local artists who have worked with Angela’s Art Ministry.

The book is dotted with their stylish and sometimes cartoonish interpretations of historical people and places, giving it a more individual feel than a standard textbook.

Angela was there for the formal launch of the book at Castle Point Council offices, in Kiln Road, Thundersley, last week.

Due to copyright issues with some illustrations, only 100 copies have so far been published, which will be distributed to every schools in Castle Point, as well as some in Southend and Rochford that were also involved.

There is hope the issues will be ironed out and the book will go on general sale. To find out more, visit www.theartministry.org.uk

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